


Eleven Songs To You

by gekrepten



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 09:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/924761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gekrepten/pseuds/gekrepten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the playlist of their story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eleven Songs To You

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](http://marius.co.vu/post/57645961281/have-not-you-an-intimate-friend-yes-c-o-u-r) amazing playlist. This is unbeta-d, so please forgive my grammatical mistakes, english is not my first language.

**1.  
First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes**

_And you said “this is the first day of my life_  
 _I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you_  
 _But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you_  
 _And I’d probably be happy”_

 

Expecting things is not in Marius Pontmercy’s nature. 

It stars perhaps when he is a kid and his grandfather always forgets his promise of getting ice cream on Fridays. He is always too busy, he claims when the child remembers him, he doesn’t have the time. His aunt takes him instead, taking pity on those big sad eyes, but the promise made by his grandfather always remains broken. 

When he is a little older he never expects his classmates to invite him to their parties. He is always the quiet child in a corner, the boy you don’t realise he’s there until the teacher is passing list and there’s a Pontmercy you’ve never heard of. Kids don’t talk to him and so he doesn’t have anyone to go and play with. 

On his 9th birthday he stops waiting for a phone call from his father, or a letter, or just a simple regard and he contents himself with the chocolate cake and the new book he has acquired. By the time he is twelve he gives up all hope of his father even trying to contact him. 

In high school it doesn’t get better, either. He is shy and very self conscious so he prefers to observe rather to take part on the typical world of a student. His days are filled with homework and books and music and he don’t feel sad about it – well, at last he tries not to.

And so when his grandfather sends him to a boarding school in the middle of his senior year, he is not really expecting anything to change.

He never expected Courfeyrac to come and turn his world upside down. 

\--

\--

\--

He meets Courfeyrac in his first day of boarding school. 

He says “You must be the new kid! Come on in, roommie” and gives him a big smile. 

He says “I’m Courfeyrac and your bed is the one next to the wall” 

He says “Welcome to hell’s prison” and bows down to him. 

And Marius finds it impossible not to smile back at him. “Thanks, I guess”

Marius can feel his bright brown eyes following him around while he unpacks his things and puts some books in the half of the shelve Courfeyrac didn’t use. It’s almost as if Courfeyrac is studying him, weighing him down, and measuring something like if he’s trying to figure it out who is Marius and what’s he like. When he is unpacking his clothes and organizing it on the closet, he speaks again.

Courfeyrac says “It’s a shame you’re not going to use much of those. The uniform in this place is hideous”

Courfeyrac says “This place in general is hideous”

Courfeyrac says “You haven’t told me your name yet”

And Marius blushes red scarlet before introducing himself.

In a couple of hours Marius discovers that it doesn’t matter if he is reserved and quiet; Courfeyrac can talk for both of them. It doesn’t matter that Courfeyrac is loud and charming; Marius is very good at listening. 

And when he’s lying on his bed, ready to sleep, Marius thinks that perhaps he has made his first friend. 

And before he closes his eyes, Courfeyrac thinks about how pretty Marius’ eyes look under the night light.

\--

\--

\--

“The book of the exodus” the teacher says as he enters the classroom, with a look that screams you-are-all-going-to-hell all over his face and that makes everyone go quiet. “Monsieur Pontmercy, if you would be so kind to introduce yourself to the class and read from the 6th verse to the 13th”

Marius swallows hard and opens his eyes wide in diffidence and something that looks a little bit like terror. 

He doesn’t have a bible. He didn’t even know that he had to bring a bible to class, which, okay, is kind of obvious since he’s in a religion class. He looks around and everyone else is taking their bibles out of their bags. He is starting to panic when luckily there’s a tap on his shoulder.

“Here, take mine” the boy on his left says, quietly.

“Thanks” he whispers. 

He reads with a voice that doesn’t sound like his, mumbling words and speaking too rushed to be coherent. His face feels all warm, probably because he’s blushing and he wonders if there’s no way the earth could sallow him right now. 

“Thank you, Monsieur Pontmercy” the teacher says. “And now, Monsieur Grantaire could you tell us what would be the plagues’ importance to the next generation of Israelis?”

“Apart from the fact that their God is able to send plagues to those who don’t act according to Him?” the same boy next to him asks, “oh, but I don’t feel like talking about how unnecessarily cruel I find God making the Pharaoh deny Moses’ request and then punishing the entire country for the rulership of a few. There’s a theory that I read somewhere, probably Wikipedia, that says that the Pharaoh was in reality a woman; Nefertiti. And that she is the one who chases Moses and the Israeli when they’re getting out of Egypt. Can we talk about that instead?” 

“Enough!” the teacher exclaims, altered. The boy just shrugs and looks generally bored. “Women didn’t hold political charges of importance during the Bible’s time”

“Hatshepsut did it before the Bible’s time” Grantaire simply points out, which, by the look the teacher is giving him, is probably not a good idea

“You’re dismissed from class. And you have detention today with Monsieur Javert. You know the classroom and the hour”

Marius, who was watching all the exchange quite alarmed, makes a gesture to give him back the bible, but the boy waves him off. “Nah, keep it. I have like thousands in my room”

“Thank you” The boy just nods and gathers his things before leaving. 

Well, Marius thinks, it certainly could have gone worst. 

\--

\--

\--

“This is Joly” Courfeyrac says, introducing him to a brown-haired boy at lunch time. “He’s in the year below us”

“Hi” Marius looks at him shyly. “I’m Marius”

Joly, instead, gives him a radiant smile. “Hello!”

“Pontmercy” Courfeyrac corrects him kindly.

“What?” Marius asks.

“Don’t mind him” Joly says, playing with a fork and his food “It’s just that we don’t normally use our first names”

“Why not?”

“Who knows?” Joly laughs and it’s a really contagious laugh so Marius laughs quietly, too.

They talk for awhile about this and the other. The food of the cafeteria, the horrible boring religion classes, about teachers and how Marius should always carry the bible with him. (“You don’t know when you might need to throw it to other’s people face” Courfeyrac says and Joly chuckles with an open, beautiful laugh)  
Joly is easy to talk with, Marius finds soon enough, almost as easy as Courfeyrac is, both of them being two of the most even-tempered, funny people Marius has ever encountered. He wonders briefly if that’s why they seem to be such good friends.

“Montparnasse told me that he already have it” Joly says, when he has already finished his food and is eating a chocolate mousse as dessert. 

“Yeah, I know” Courfeyrac replies, stealing a little bit of mousse with his spoon. “He told me to meet up with him on the garden. He’s got the good stuff”

“Great. I would go with you to get it but I don’t want to be outside after 6pm. You know how easily I get sick, especially with this weather. Be sure to wear a warm sweater”

“There’s no need to worry” Courfeyrac rolls his eyes at him, fondly “Pontmercy will come with me, right?” 

“Sure” Marius says, even if he’s kind of lost in the conversation. 

They talk a little more before the ring bells and Joly rushes to his next class. Courfeyrac insists on walking with Marius, to make sure he doesn’t get lost in the labyrinth of knowledge as he calls it.

“I’ll see you after class at our room” Marius nods and before he goes, Courfeyrac ruffles his hair and leaves with a burst of laughing. “Good luck, my friend” he yells from the end  
of the corridor. 

Marius tries to but cannot hide the grin on his face.

He has never felt so welcome before. 

\--

\--

\--

The garden is huge, full of trees and flowers. Marius notices that this is a classical French garden with the pretentious arrangement of pathways that lead to a small fountain. They’re not supposed to be here, Courfeyrac has confided him before they went out. The school has strict schedules and if a teacher finds them there, they’re probably going to get detention. 

Courfeyrac is now walking in front of him. The sky is gray and the cold wind of January blows through the trees and the grass, playing with Courfeyrac’s curls of brown hair. Marius observes the back of his neck with attention, the pale skin being caressed softly by the wind, the way Courfeyrac’s hands seek warm under the pocket of the dark blue jacket of his uniform. 

They walk towards the leafier tree of the garden in complete silence. There is a boy that Courfeyrac greats as Montparnasse before handing him some money and receiving back a little bag. The boy impeccably dressed with the same uniform as them, smiles before saying “as always, a pleasure doing business with you”. He quickly leaves, moving like a shadow until Marius loses sight of him. 

Marius doesn’t need to be a genius to know what’s most likely to be in the little bag.

The walk back to their dorms is full of jokes and Courfeyrac putting an arm on his shoulders while jokingly making up stories about why each of the portraits on the great hall looks so constipated. 

“That one...” he begins, his voice tickling on his ear “Oh, that’s my great grandmother. We should not be so harsh on her. You know, they say that she was possessed by a bad mood demon and they couldn’t exorcise it on time. I think the painter tried to capture that” Courfeyrac explains as he makes gestures with his right arm – the arm that it’s not resting on Marius’ shoulders.

When they’re back on their room, Courfeyrac hides the little bag in one of his socks, and lights a cigarette leaning on the window. He smocks for a couple of seconds, closing his eyes and little smile on his face. Marius can smell the nicotine, the smoke dancing in front of his eyes, slowly, ephemeral and he smiles too, without a reason. He smiles because Courfeyrac is smiling and quite frankly in less than 24 hours he has discovered that Courfeyrac’s smile is fascinating, and kind and warm. And no one has ever smiled so much at him before. 

“Don’t tell anyone. We’re not supposed to smock inside. I bet that if Javert finds out he would try to open up the dungeons and have his dream of being a combination between Snape and Filch come true” Marius laughs. “Do you want one?”

“No, thank you. I have...” Marius hesitates before continuing “I have never smoked” 

“Do you want to try it out?” Courfeyrac asks him, offering him the cigarette. Marius wonders if it’d be rude to decline the offer, if Courfeyrac would get think he’s a stupid kid and make fun of him. The look on his face must be mortified because Courfeyrac immediately puts his cigarette back on his mouth. “It’s okay if you don’t want to”  
Marius shrugs his shoulders.

“So tell me, how much are you enjoying your first day on school?”

“It’s fine” Marius says while lying on his bed. “I mean the classes are not really different from my other school”

“Ah, I guess so. I’d like to think that the people outside this school is different” He stays silent for a second, his eyes lost in thoughts and Marius can’t help but feel curious about the tone of bitterness on Courfeyrac’s voice, but Courfeyrac composes himself rather quickly and gives him a big smile before asking “Do you miss your friends back home?”

It’s Marius turn to stay silent.

“I didn’t have that many friends”

Courfeyrac laughs once more.

“You really are something, aren’t you, Pontmercy?”

Marius smiles but doesn’t know what to say.

Courfeyrac doesn’t seem to mind and they’re quickly laughing again.


End file.
